The present invention relates to nanoparticle assemblies and methods of making nanoparticle assemblies.
Programmable matter is a distributed system of agents that act cooperatively to configure themselves into arbitrary shapes with arbitrary functions. The molecular self-assembly of structures containing many nanoparticles is a candidate for programmable matter. Programmability implies that system designers are able to control the properties of assembly products. The system should be able to assemble arbitrary, anisotropic shapes, like an electronic circuit, with the capability of incorporating different materials at specific locations within the structure. Defects or errors should be minimized and three-dimensional (3D) assembly should be possible. In self-assembly, component parts, or building blocks, interact locally to produce a coherent and organized whole. At the molecular level, the interactions are determined by “patches” that react between building blocks. Frequently, the assemblies exhibit collective properties that are distinct from those of their constituent components. These properties often depend upon the shape of the structure. Thus, the difficulty of programmability is really the difficulty of controlling the shape of resulting nanostructures. The ability to program the shape of a final assembly is computationally hard and subject to frequent errors. Nevertheless, through careful design and implementation of building blocks, desired shapes and properties might be achieved. To maximize programmability (i.e., control), there should be a large number of types of patches available. Otherwise, there is not the variety of interactions to assemble complicated shapes. The placement and relative orientation of patches on the surface of the building block should be controlled. Different types of patches should be able to be placed on the same building block to diversify the shapes available. Finally, the chemistry for patch conjugation to the building block should be relatively simple and sustainable, and should be able to be used with a variety of materials.
As a result of its unique molecular recognition properties, structural features, and ease of manipulation, DNA has been considered as a promising material to achieve programmable assembly of nanostructures. Nanoparticle (NP) building blocks with different surface functionalities for DNA linkers have been reported. Results with DNA computing verified the programmability of nanotechnology based upon DNA and showed that DNA self-assembly was computationally universal. DNA programmability has demonstrated the ability to assemble a variety of shapes and, when NPs are incorporated, to control the position of NPs in linear, two-dimensional (2D), and 3D assemblies including those based upon origami techniques. Nevertheless, the rational self-assembly of functional structures with arbitrary shapes in all dimensions and at all scales, which can incorporate many different NPs into a variety of final geometries, remains difficult to attain.